School bus-car crash injures four and other news from areas around Chattanooga

School bus-car crash injures four and other news from areas around Chattanooga

December 15th, 2012by Staff Reports and Associated Press in Local Regional News

Two are seriously injured, and two more suffered minor injuries when a car slammed in a school bus filled with children Friday afternoon in Bradley County.

Two are seriously injured, and two more suffered...

Photo by
WRCB-TV Channel 3
/Times Free Press.

School bus-car crash injures four

CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Bradley County authorities shut down a section of Spring Place Road for more than two hours Friday afternoon when a car collided with a school bus about 4 p.m. and injured four people.

The car hit close to the back wheel on the driver's side of the bus, Bradley County Sheriff's Office spokesman Bob Gault said.

About 35 students -- mostly middle-schoolers -- were on the bus. Two children suffered minor injuries.

The driver of the car was airlifted to Erlanger hospital with serious injuries, and another child, a passenger in the car, was taken to a hospital by ambulance.

It appears the bus was trying to make a left turn at the intersection of Spring Place and Kile Lake Lane -- a couple miles from Lake Forest Middle School -- when the car slammed into its side, Gault said.

This is the second school bus crash in Bradley County this month. The 34-year-old driver who crashed head-on into a school bus on North Lee Highway on Dec. 5 died Wednesday.

Abortion rights license tags eyed

ATLANTA - A Georgia lawmaker is looking to give drivers who support a woman's right to choose to terminate a pregnancy the option to demonstrate their viewpoint with a specialty license plate.

WSB-TV reported that out of 125 specialty plates, Georgia drivers have the option of buying one showcasing their anti-abortion standpoint. However, specialty license plates promoting abortion rights are not offered.

The TV station reported that Democratic state Sen. Gloria Butler, of Stone Mountain, is looking to review an amendment she introduced in 2005 for the state to offer pro-abortion rights specialty plates after the General Assembly approved anti-abortion plates.

A judge in North Carolina ruled the state offering specialty plates on one side of the issue but not the other was discriminatory and unconstitutional.

Weiss Lake cleanup urged

CENTRE, Ala. - Alabama's top health official says an ordinance hasn't been enforced, leading to delays in the cleanup of Weiss Lake.

The Post reported that the Cherokee County Health Department is trying to clean up and/or remove hundreds of potential sewage violators from the shores of the 30,200-acre, man-made reservoir.

State health officer Dr. Donald Williamson had said his department needed an ordinance establishing procedures for enforcement and an enforcement officer to oversee the process.

But the new position has gone unfilled since health officials were given the authority they said they needed to clean up the lake. Now, he said, "we want them to step up and do their job."